Susan Stewart collects fresh human placentas, takes them home and steams them with lemon, ginger and cayenne pepper. Once cooked, she puts the organs in a dehydrator overnight then grinds them and measures the powder out into gel capsules.

The service  the Calgary single mother makes a living at this  costs about $200.

Within a day, she presents new moms with their placentas in pill form  an average human placenta yields about 150 capsules  with promises of renewed energy, better lactation and no post-partum depression. They keep indefinitely.

Placenta-eating has gained some cachet among the natural-birth set, including Mad Mens January Jones. Ms. Stewart said she became interested in it in 2009, after she was knocked down by depression following the birth of her first child, and she could see little downside from trying it.

Being a male, I can’t make claims one way or the other on this, but other mammals eat the placentae after birth. Regardless of the verity of these claims, it seems to be something that’s natural from an animal nature perspective.

5
posted on 04/12/2013 6:26:06 AM PDT
by rarestia
(It's time to water the Tree of Liberty.)

There has to be some sort of nutritional value to it as well. I’d have to imagine it helps to re-energize the birth mother after labor or at least help to replace some of the vitamins, minerals, and fluids lost during birth.

10
posted on 04/12/2013 6:29:59 AM PDT
by rarestia
(It's time to water the Tree of Liberty.)

We ARE still animals when you consider it biologically. I'm not saying it palatable or comfortable to think about, but it's as natural as any other thing we get from the body.

From the article:

Not only are mothers not attracted to the placenta, theyre pretty much revolted by it

Otherwise, human mammals, along with dolphins and some higher primates, are alone in rejecting the habit.

We stopped doing it before recorded history, apparently. And we would have to conclude that there was something about it that was not only not beneficial, but somehow deleterious, or somehow maladaptive or harmful, he said.

Laraine: Thats right. Many mammals eat their own placenta. Its nutritious, its 100 percent natural, and now that youre going to have a family, youve got to watch your food budget more than ever. And theres no cheaper meat than placenta.

Gilda: But is there enough placenta to make a complete meal for my husband and myself?

Laraine: Not if your husband has a hearty appetite like mine. And thats why you need Placenta Helper.

Gilda: Placenta Helper?

Laraine: Thats right. Placenta Helper lets you stretch your placenta into a tasty casserole. [Holds up a box of Placenta Helper.] Like Placenta Romanoffa zesty blend of cheeses makes for the zingy sauce that Russian czars commanded at palace feasts. Or Placenta Oriental. An exotic mixture of oriental vegetables and exotic herbs and spices creates an exotic meal. Look, you can have placenta only once every nine months. Why not make a rare occasion, a rare occasion?

[CUT TO: Gildas kitchen. John Belushi, as her husband, has just finished his placenta casserole.]

Do you understand why they do that, though? It’s not because they like the taste!

For instance, rabbits eat their excrement, because their bodies did not digest all of the nutrients on the first pass. Dogs eat their vomit to reingest lost nutrients. Fecal matter is much the same. If an animal is well-fed, they will not opt for vomit or feces as a meal. In the wild, however, that may be the only meal they get for a while.

It’s similar to survival tactics in many ways. Your urine can serve to keep you hydrated in an emergency situation. Your feces, not so much. There’s a reason it’s called “waste.”

Placenta is not explicitly waste, it’s “leftover biomass.” There’s nothing found to be caustic or deadly to humans in after birth, it’s just not something for which we’ve concocted recipes.

35
posted on 04/12/2013 8:37:30 AM PDT
by rarestia
(It's time to water the Tree of Liberty.)

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